Among the tens of millions of human beings who today remember, believe in and cherish the celebration of Lovers' Day, because they feel like it and above all believe themselves to be loved, there is also a minority that is very near and dear to us: the Italian lovers in Kenya.
They have several characteristics that make them unique: one is surely the place where they fall pierced by Cupid's arrows (nickname of a well-known Masai beach boy in Watamu).
The equatorial sky, the sun, the sea of the coast and the assumptions of the African sojourn, bring to mind the primordial holiday sensations, the adolescent crushes, the filarini with the first loves met in the water or in front of a bonfire at mid-August.
The great celestial vault of the equator captures you as only an overwhelming passion can, as do the crystal-clear waves of the ocean.
What does it matter if you are now seventy years old and in Rimini at most you could meet your new flame in the water of a thermal pool while undergoing treatment for arthritis or queuing to collect your pension?
The second is the pace of life, the absence of stress that naturally takes you back to your most carefree years.
In Kenya, time stands still and if you come out you are always stopped by girls and boys who are about to fall in love with you.
It is surprising how easily you open your heart, amplified by the fact that your loved one materialises in the guise of a sinuous dancing panther or a statuesque, muscular beached lion.
Strolling on the beach, back and forth, besides keeping blood sugar levels low and regulating blood pressure, facilitates acquaintance and consequently the probable falling in love, but it also has a side effect: the sun beats down hard on one's head, and contributes to unconsciousness, which is one of the obvious signs of enthralling passion.

But the equatorial sun, combined with coconut water, a bad samosa eaten at a local stall, and a very cold tusker beer (healthy baridi) can do even more: convince you that your loved one has found in you the soulmate he or she has always been looking for, the western afflatus that will make the relationship sublime.
Let's be clear, they are not all like this, in fact when mixed and almost mystical couples are created, it happens because he and she are 'different from everyone else'.
Which then begs the question, different from whom? Since there are thousands of them who can't wait to get engaged?
"Yes, yes, go ahead and make fun - you often hear people say around here - it's all envy".

It is undeniable that for many Italians it is: the envy of not being able to afford to go so assiduously to an exotic paradise, of still having a wife or husband in tow and not being able to break them up, of not having the right arguments to conquer a prey that is not for an evening, because it is one thing to pay for a dinner and an after-dinner party, it is another to have an exotic lover on the payroll.
The real envy, however, is that of the genuine, spontaneous, wolfish happiness that shines through the red snapper's gaze of the Indian ocean. It is a beautiful state of mind, which when contrasted with the heavy times and negativity scattered across the conflict-ridden lands, arid with sentiment and culture, tugs at the heartstrings of hope and still gives one hope that men and women are ultimately more naive than bastards.
At least one of them is.
Happy Valentine's Day, Italian lovers in Kenya!